- Prey
- Sphere
- Black Rose
- The Great Train Robbery
- Blue Dahlia
- Carnal Innocence
- Dance Upon the Air
- High Noon
- Lawless
- Sacred Sins
- Tribute
- Face the Fire
- Holding the Dream
- A Man for Amanda
- All the Possibilities
- Next
- Prey
- Sphere
- Black Rose
- The Great Train Robbery
- Blue Dahlia
- Carnal Innocence
- Dance Upon the Air
- High Noon
- Lawless
- Sacred Sins
- Tribute
- Face the Fire
- Holding the Dream
- A Man for Amanda
Tanner on IcePage 30
“Good night, Katya.” She was silent for a while. Then she said, “Vanya, could you just lie with me and hold me for a little while? I will be strong once our journey begins, but right now I am frightened.” I got in bed with her. She had shucked her outer robe and one of the others, leaving only the third, a sort of glorified loin cloth. She came into my arms and burrowed close, and her fear was a palpable thing. I could feel her trembling, and I held her gently but firmly in my arms until the trembling ceased. She murmured something. I could tell it was in Russian, but it was too soft for me to make it out. I went on holding her and breathed in her scent, and even as her own breathing deepened with the onset of sleep, I felt myself stirring in response. Easy enough to open my own robes, easy too to take the last bit of cloth from around her loins. Easy to part her thighs, easy to ease between them… I don’t know what stopped me. Not fear of disapproval, God knows. If anything, she’d welcome it. But it just didn’t seem appropriate, not hours before our entry into monastic life. And it struck me as strategically unwise. The role we would be playing was a sexless one, and how sexless an energy would we project if we had just squeezed in a quickie? My mind knew this, even if my body had a will of its own. I clenched my teeth and breathed deeply, and my resolve stiffened. It wasn’t the only thing that did, but it proved the stronger, and after a few minutes I got out of bed without disturbing Katya and sat cross-legged in a corner of the room, waiting for the dawn. I felt, by turns, virtuous and stupid. And after a while I realized it was possible to feel both those things at once. Chapter 17 Sunrise and sunset are increasingly abrupt as you approach the Equator. It was still dark when Ku Min met us in front of the shuttered teahouse across from the Char Win. By the time we boarded the flat-bottomed boat that would take us upriver to Bagan, the sun had cleared the horizon and the sky was bright. I moved to follow Katya on board, but Ku Min caught my arm. “Evan,” he said, “your companion is very quiet.” “He doesn’t say much,” I agreed. “He only speaks one language.” “Ah. And what is that?” “Norwegian.” “And you speak Norwegian also?” “Yes.” “But you are from America.” “Yes.” “And your friend, he is from Norwegia?” “Norway.” “Yes, Norway. He is from Norway?” “He is.” “It would probably be best,” he said, “if he does not speak at all.” “That’s what I thought, Ku Min.” “He is tall,” he said. “That is a point in his favor. But, Evan, my friend, if one looks closely-” “I hope nobody looks too closely.” “His hands are small, you know.” “Well,” I said. The nails were clipped short, and there was no polish on them, but we hadn’t been able to do anything about the size of Katya’s hands. “And his aura,” he said. “His aura?” “Some people can see auras,” he said. “Especially monks trained in meditation. I cannot. But anyone can sense the energy of another human being, is it not so?” “And your sense is…” “That you and your male companion must be very careful, Evan. You should be all right on the boat. The captain is my friend, and the crew members know to take no interest in the passengers. Still, they could talk afterward, and word travels quickly.” “I’ll try not to give them anything to talk about.” “Yes. And when you leave the ship at Bagan-” “We’ll be careful.” “Yes. You will see other monks, Evan. There are monks everywhere. Be especially careful around them.” “We will.” “If I had known…” “You’d have helped us just the same.” “Yes,” he said. “But I would not have slept well. Good luck, my friend.” I shook his hand, boarded the boat, and found the place in the hold where they’d made room for us. We’d be out of the crew’s way there, and out of sight of the people on the banks and the passing river traffic. I settled in next to Katya, my back braced against a burlap sack of rice. The boat started its engines, and I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, inhaling the rich smell of foodstuffs and other goods bound for Mandalay. The cargo included a load of dried fish and a pile of hides, and their smells predominated, but there were other top notes to be detected, a whiff of this and a sniff of that. A hound dog would have had the time of his life. We got underway. Katya was quiet for half an hour or so, and I thought she might be sleeping. Then her hand caught mine and she gave a squeeze. “He knows,” she said. “Doesn’t he?” |
- The Loners
- The Saints
- Switched
- Fangtastic!
- Re-Vamped!
- Vampalicious!
- Tome of the Undergates
- Black Halo
- The Skybound Sea
- If You Stay
- If You Leave
- Until We Burn
- Before We Fall
- Every Last Kiss
- Fated
- Suspiciously Obedient
- Random Acts of Crazy
- Random Acts of Trust
- Her First Billionaire
- Her Second Billionaire
- Her Two Billionaires
- Her Two Billionaires and a Baby
- His Majesty's Dragon
- Throne of Jade
- Black Powder War
- Victory of Eagles
- Tongues of Serpents
- Empire of Ivory
- Crucible of Gold
- Delirium